He studied at the Municipal Institute of Decorative Arts and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Between 1976 and 1980 he wrote his first scripts for the theatre and made his début performances.

Between 1976 en 1980 he wrote his first texts for the theatre and did his first solo performances. During his 'money-performances' he burned money and wrote the word 'MONEY' with the ashes. In 1977 he renames the street where he lives to "Jan Fabre street" and fixes a commemorative plaque "Here lives and works Jan Fabre" to the house of his parents, by analogy to the commemorative plate on the house of Vincent Van Gogh in the same street. In 1978 he makes drawings with his own blood during the solo performance 'My body, my blood, my landscape'. In 1980 'The Bic-Art Room' he had himself locked up for three days and three nights in a white cube full of objects, drawing with blue Bic ballpoint pens as an alternative to Big art Established in 1986, Troubleyn/Jan Fabre is a theatre company with extensive international operations, with its home base in Antwerp, Belgium.

From 1980 he began his career as a stage director and stage designer:

Theater geschreven met een K is een kater (1980)

Het is theater zoals te verwachten en te voorzien was ("It is Theatre as to be Expected and Foreseen" 1982)

The fin comes a little bit earlier this siècle (But business as usual) (1998)

Het nut van de nacht (1999)

As long as the world needs a warrior’s soul (2000)

My movements are alone like streetdogs (2000)

Je suis Sang (conte de fées médiéval) (2001)

Het zwanenmeer (2002)

Swanlake (2002)

Parrots & guinea pigs (2002)

Je suis sang (2003)

Angel of death (2003)

Tannhäuser (co-production) (2004)

Elle était et elle est, même (2004)

Etant donnés (2004)

Quando L'Uomo principale è una donna (2004)

The crying body (2004)

The King of Plagiarism (2005)

History of Tears (2005)

I am a Mistake (2007)

Requiem für eine Metamorphose (2007)

Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day (2008)

Orgy of Tolerance (2009)

The Servant of Beauty (2010)

Preparatio Mortis (2010)

Prometheus–Landscape II (2011)

"Tragedy of a Friendship" (2013)

Searching for Utopia

Fabre is famous for his Bic-art (ballpoint drawings). In 1990, he covered an entire building with ballpoint drawings.

He explores the relationships between drawing and sculpture. He also makes sculptures in bronze (among them The man who measures the clouds and Searching for Utopia) and with beetles.

His decoration of the ceiling of the Royal Palace in Brussels Heaven of Delight (made out of one million six hundred thousand jewel-scarab wing cases) is widely praised. In 2004 he erected Totem, a giant bug stuck on a 70 foot steel needle, on the Ladeuzeplein in Leuven.

In 2008, Jan Fabre's The Angel of Metamorphosis exhibition was held at the Louvre Museum.

On 26 October 2012, several media reported how during a shoot in the Antwerp town hall for a forthcoming film on Fabre, living cats were thrown repeatedly several meters spinning into the air, after which they made a hard landing on the steps of the entrance hall. Animal welfare executive chairman Luc Bungeneers said he was having a meeting with his party chairman when he heard howling cats. "To my horror, we found cats were being assaulted in the name of art" Bungeneers said. "It went on for several hours." The filming was eventually aborted after protests from the crew's own technicians. Later that day, Fabre claimed all cats were still in good health and it was a conspiracy of the political party NVA.[1][2][3][4] Mr Fabre has received 20,000 emails slamming his act. He has also been attacked seven times by men carrying clubs whilst out jogging in the park and been forced to sleep in a different location every night.Antwerp's deputy mayor for animal wellbeing and the animal rights organisation Global Action in the Interest of Animals also launched complaints about Mr Fabre's controversial act.